


Hardship

by Draconicdisciple



Category: Evillious Chronicles
Genre: Demonic Possession, Marlon Spoon, POV Third Person, Poverty, Pride arc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:34:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29477784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draconicdisciple/pseuds/Draconicdisciple
Summary: Mikina had only ever known how tight of situations a lack of money meant. Even her own prejudices couldn't stop her from understanding how children suffer.
Kudos: 7
Collections: Union Server of Evillious 24 hour ficjam





	Hardship

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! This is my second submission to the Union Server of Evillious ficjam. The prompt this month was "Tight", I could have done something romantic but I've been wanting to write Mikina for awhile now.

It was while Mikina was leaving the bakery—rich breaded goods in hand—when she heard those words.

“Money is so tight right now… Ever since mama died.” 

That was when she stopped for the first time that day. She glanced up at the nearby clocktower, noting that the day had passed faster than she could keep track of it. She glanced at the trees, looking at the leaves starting to regrow. The ashes at the base of each trunk must be why the trees were regenerating so recently. They would be the first to recover from the past winter. 

Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said for so many people.

“Money is so tight right now.”

Those words were truly the source of misery.

Which brought her back to the real reason she was avoiding looking towards the source of the sound, the two Elphe girls out of the corner of her eye. The sight settled clenching in her stomach. Jeers from other Elphe girls towards her rang in her head, but she forced herself to give the two girls a closer look over.

The shrubs were their benches and the thorns their dress’ decorations. It reminded her of an old piece of ‘wisdom’ she heard from some of the Elphes when her own funds were low.

“Thorns in your threads grant the wealthy blessings of King Thorny.” A charming little phrase, but one that caused her heart to tighten upon seeing the two girls. One of them was just an inch taller than Yukina, she must not have been that much older. Perhaps the eldest was roughly eleven? Meanwhile the other was perhaps double Shaw’s age, roughly six. Their lips were wet with saliva and their noses in the air, pointing towards the bakery. 

Their rags reminded Mikina much of the ones she had almost worn while pregnant, perhaps in another world she might have raised her own children with thorns in their clothes. 

“I miss mama, Em…”

“I do too, Zarina…” 

Now they were hugging each other. The scent of the bakery mixed with the scent of freshly baked bread wafting from her basket. For a brief moment it was Shaw and Yukina. She blinked as she looked at them, except it was Michaela and Clarith now. The two of them who could never be together. White hair, that she admired for its differences from the Elphes here, and the teal-green that she despised originally. Her heart twisted as hard as her fist around the basket handle. 

Her heart twisted as hard as the hands of the children around the bread they received from Mikina. At first the children stared in disbelief as Mikina walked up to them and tossed a couple long rolls of bread into their hands. Their eyes shone with gratitude, gratitude she had stolen from others before. She can’t forget watching the brightness of other’s eyes leave their bodies instead of pop into it like with these children. 

“She’s a foreigner, Em… With such pretty pink hair!”

“Yeah… They tend to be nice to those in need. Thank you. Now thank her, Zarina!”

“Thank you kind lady!” 

Mikina gave a smile and a nod, a simple one. “I wouldn’t leave those in need go hungry like I’ve had to. Remember to be kind to others when you can someday!” She neglected to mention her sins, the ones that the children didn’t need to know. 

She was a coward, these children should know how much of a murderer they’re thanking. 

The kids nodded. “Yes ma’am!”

Mikina turned around at that, and zeroed back in on the ashes scattered at the bases of the trees. She can still remember the flames. Red or blue, it didn’t matter when they blended together into a deep purple in her vision. The color of her sin, passed down from Abyss and the Queen of Marlon. She started walking towards the path towards the house her beloved family was staying at. 

As she entered the woods with scorched and growing green trees, she looked up at the sky. The corners of her eyes were kept for passersby. The front of her eyes were looking up to where the Levin church would say spirits went when they died. Perhaps Michaela, her father, Shaw’s nanny, and all the Elphe women who died from Lucifenia’s princess were up there. The women she once spoke to in the village would have said that their spirits had gone to live with the forest spirits, but she wasn’t sure if she believed in anything the Held sect promoted. 

The sun was finally starting to trudge down from its lofty place of rest in the sky by the time she neared her home. That was when she started to feel a gaze on her. She glanced around the path around her. There were still travelers on the road, yet she had to dismiss the idea of anyone gawking at her with her age. She was a mother now! 

It was as she scanned the bushes that she locked eyes with small, bright, and beady ones, surrounded by oddly red fur. In this case they might have been actual beads. Her muscles tightened, and she reached into the folds of her dress to pull out a silver spoon. With haste she shoved the spoon in front of her threateningly. 

Then a merchant passed by with his ox-pulled cart, and once he cleared with a confused glance her way, and the beady eyes were gone. Her muscles loosened and she heaved out her sigh, tension leaving her body for the first time all day. 

Whether this would ever be enough to atone to Michaela and Clarith, or to her own father, or Shaw’s nanny, she’d never know. The one thing she was sure about is she couldn’t harm a child, no matter how tight her coin purse, heart, or grip over a sin vessel.


End file.
